Originally Posted by
Aussienarelle
I was travelling out of SAN today and they were using the dogs . Makes sense to me: close to the border, cocaine bust earlier this week and Spring Break. However, then everyone is now TSA-pre. But they have no idea what to do and the lie backs up.
What is the point of paying for TSA-pre when everyone gets it for free, and more importantly it makes the lines much longer for TSA-pre. It is a bit of a first world problem, and I know I sound like a DYKWIA but it was extremely frustrating.
I actually pay for GE but as a green card holder it only works 50% of the time. May not bother renewing my GE (and associated TSA pre).
TSA seems to have mucked up PRE quite badly, especially at large airports where it seems to be open only sporadically, DEN, JFK, ATL, MCO, LAX, LAS - I could go on. I've read many reports similar to yours - TSA brings in the dogs and it takes everyone longer to get through screening than it would have without the dogs. This happens mostly when the dog is stationary and passengers are forced to walk in circles around the dogs. In places where the dog is walked by the passengers, this confusion does not seem to be as consistent.
Then, of course, TSA can't get people buy into PreCheck. To make it work, they need 25 million but have only about 6 million. That’s why they are advertising so heavily as well as giving it away and hence why the lines are so long and slower than the regular security lines.
Hard choice to make - give up GE because it doesn't always work or keep and glory in the times it does work.